Rita Crockett Royster

As they have done all season, Jackie Silva and Janice Opalinski were thrilling the crowd with their line-drive serves in the Huntington Beach Open women's pro volleyball tournament Saturday. A few feet away, Rita Crockett-Royster and her partner, Dennie Knoop, were struggling with their second-round match. It would be easy for Crockett-Royster to be a bit upset with Silva, a friend and former partner who has won the first five stops on the tour with Opalinski of San Juan Capistrano.

As they have done all season, Jackie Silva and Janice Opalinski were thrilling the crowd with their line-drive serves in the Huntington Beach Open women's pro volleyball tournament Saturday. A few feet away, Rita Crockett-Royster and her partner, Dennie Knoop, were struggling with their second-round match. It would be easy for Crockett-Royster to be a bit upset with Silva, a friend and former partner who has won the first five stops on the tour with Opalinski of San Juan Capistrano.

Rita Crockett Royster had 18 kills and 11 digs to lead the Los Angeles Starlites to a 15-7, 15-11, 15-7 victory over San Jose in a Major League Volleyball game Thursday at Golden West College. The Starlites are 9-1; San Jose is 4-6.

Rita Crockett-Royster had 14 kills to lead the Los Angeles Starlites to a 15-10, 15-6, 15-11 victory over Chicago Sunday night in a Major League Volleyball League match at Golden West College. The victory clinches the league title for the Starlites (17-3). Chicago is 5-14. Crockett-Royster also had 23 digs and 5 blocks.

The Los Angeles Starlites extended their home winning streak to 10 consecutive games by defeating the Arizona Blaze, 11-15, 15-12, 15-5, 15-6, Friday in a Major League Volleyball match at Golden West College. Rita Crockett-Royster had 19 digs and 10 kills to lead the Starlites (10-3), who have won seven in a row at home this season and 10 over two years. Arizona is 2-12.

The Los Angeles Starlites defeated the Chicago Breeze, 9-15, 15-9, 15-9, 15-10, in front of 300 at Golden West College in a Major League Volleyball match Saturday. It was the 11th consecutive victory at home for first-place Los Angeles (13-3), dating back to last season. Los Angeles is 8-0 at home this year. The Starlites' Rita Crockett-Royster and Jeanne Beauprey-Reeves led all players with 14 kills, and Michelle Boyette had 42 assists. Chicago is in fifth place with a record of 5-10.

Rita Crockett-Royster had 21 kills and Dale Keough-Hall had 22 digs to lead the Los Angeles Starlites to a 15-11, 12-15, 15-5, 15-9 victory Saturday over the New York Liberties in a Major League Volleyball match played in White Plains, N.Y. Before the match, the Starlites (15-3) played the remainder of the suspended Hall of Fame match, defeating the Liberties, 15-7, 15-5, 7-15, 15-13. Keough-Hall had 19 kills in that match and was named the match's most valuable player.

The Los Angeles Starlites won the Major League Volleyball championship Saturday night by defeating the San Jose Golddiggers,15-7, 15-8, 15-10, at Minneapolis. This is the second straight championship in the Los Angeles professional team's two-year history. The Starlites also beat San Jose in last year's title match. The Starlites finished the season with a record of 19-5, while the runner-up Golddiggers ended at 13-11.

Janice Opalinski of San Juan Capistrano and Jackie Silva of Redondo Beach will put their five-match winning streak on the line this weekend at the Huntington Beach Open women's pro beach volleyball tournament. The tournament starts at 8:30 a.m. today and Sunday at the Huntington Beach Pier. The finals are scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday. Opalinski and Silva have won all five tour stops since forming their partnership at the start of the season.

Nancy Reno had only a few seconds to savor her first pro beach volleyball victory Sunday when the economic reality of the moment set in. You win. You buy. Shortly after accepting her trophy--a beer can encased in plastic--and a check for $5,875, Reno was confronted by Angela Rock, an opponent on the tour. "You're buying the beers," Rock informed Reno.